National General Council document
Report on the Information and Com munications Technology resolutions of The Stellenbotch and Polokw ane Conferences
HIST ORICAL BAC KGROUND
1. Since the democratization of the country, the ANC has been grappling w ith the role of the communications sector and its restructuring in order for it to play a meaningful role as a means for democratic expression as w ell as an impor tant sector of the economy. 2. The ANC approach has been underpinned by the reality that the communications
infrastructure and services, like all other aspects of South African life, had been deployed in a skew ed manner to the disadvantage and exclusion from services delivery of the rural, peri-urban and tow nship areas. The communic ations infrastructure w as deployed primar ily to serve the minority segment of the population, the repressive requirements of the security establishment and big business.
3. The ANC has therefore advocated for the democratization of the communic ations sector to provide access to its infrastructure and services to all South Africans as a goal in itself as w ell as a w ay of ensuring that all South Africans are integrated in the social, political and economic activities.
4. The ANC from its ow n history has been acutely aw are of the pow er of the communic ations sector as a purveyor and disseminator of political thoughts and its ability to bring about democratic public participation through effective communication w ith different constituencies scattered over vast distances. Prior to unbanning the Depar tment of Information and Public ity spearheaded the dissemination of information about the ANC and the struggle for liberation of South Africa.
5. Communications through the use of information and communications technology i.e. Radio Freedom, Mayibuye and extensive use of telefax played a vital part of the ANC strategy to mobilize South Africans and the international community in the fight against the oppressive apartheid regime and to communicate the broad democratic vision to replace the apartheid system. In essence, the Information Communic ation Technologies had been an essential part of the arsenal and instruments that were utilized to w age the struggle for democracy and the defeat of the apartheid system.
6. Upon the unbanning of the ANC and other political parties a broad campaign w as initiated w hich focused on ensuring transformation in the communications sector in general and the transformation of the broadcasting system, in particular, into a public broadcaster. The SABC w as of particular concern as it had served as a mouthpiece of successive apartheid governments and as counter tool to the efforts to mobilize ordinary South Africans to participate in the struggle for democracy.
8. The emergence of the Community Sector of broadcasting provided an additional platform to involve communities in the politic al developments usher ing in democracy. The ANC advocated for the licencing of these new community stations and actively sought to help different initiatives establish these community stations through training. 9. The Free and Fair Campaign played a pivotal role in galvaniz ing popular support for the
transformation of the SABC and the introduction of community media. The Free and Fair Campaign w as preceded by the Jabulani Fr eedom of the Airw aves Conference that w as organised by the ANC in 1992. The Jabulani Conference w as pivotal in synthesizing thoughts about the future dispensation. The three tier system of broadcasting consisting of the public, community and commerc ial subsectors, as currently structured, emanates in the main from the outcomes of the Jabulani Freedom of the Airw aves Conference. 10. Just as the restructuring of the SABC w as important in view of the need for an impartial
broadcaster during the build-up leading to the first democratic elections, the establishment of an independent regulatory authority became crucial in leveling the playing fields. The Independent Broadcasting Authority of South Africa w as therefore established in 1993 and mandated w ith the regulation of the broadcasting sector. Amongst its first task w as to conduct a Triple Inquiry into the protection and viability of the public broadcaster, cross media ow nership and control as w ell as the extent of local content in the South African broadcasting system.
11. In the telecommunications sector this w as the period of the emergence of mobile telephony and there w as an overriding need to halt the then plans of the apartheid regime to deny the public sector any involvement in the new technology as w ell as to deny any future prospects of involvement of the historically disadvantaged in the mobile sector. Through ANC interventions Telkom got a substantial part of the new business through 50% equity in Vodacom and the mobile sector w as forced to utilize the netw ork of Telkom in significant parts of their operations.
12. The ANC initiated The Centre for the Development of Information and Telec ommunications Policy (CDITP) and mandated it to serve as a think tank for the development of ICT policy, skills development and training to fast track the deployment of the historically disadvantaged individuals in government departments and state owned entities. The CDITP w as also charged w ith mobilising civil society to participate in policy debates about social transformation and w as pivotal in the establishment of the National Telec ommunications Forum as w ell as the Black IT Forum.
13. At a policy level, ANC’s desired ends w ere outlined in the RDP programme as a universal service and access to postal, telecommunications and broadcasting sectors by all South Africans. The concept of universal service and access contained tw o principles of the extension, and therefore availability , of basic infrastructure to all South Africans irrespective of w here they are found and importantly the availability of affordable services on that infrastructure.
years before there w as consideration of the Black Economic Empow erment Act as w ell as the Empow erment Codes.
15. To provide for statutory framew ork for the regulation and management of the information and communication technology sector compliant w ith the interim constitution meant the need to repeal the apartheid era law s and regulations, the redefinition of the mandates and roles as w ell the restructuring of the State Ow ned Entities. The ANC government oversaw participatory processes including green and w hite papers for the development of the new policies and law s in the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal sector. 16. Soon after the RDP programme w as embarked upon, it became clear that all parastatals
in the communications sector could not fulfill their roles in a sustainable manner. A model based on self-financing w as questioned as one state ow ned entity after another failed to meet the new obligations. Telkom reneged on its extensive netw ork roll-out in the rural, peri-urban and tow nship areas thus again leaving millions in these areas without any connectivity. The SABC w ent into a R600m financial crisis due to its restructuring and extension of its mandate, thus leaving millions w ithout coverage and content in preferred languages. The South African Post Office also faced a similar order of financial problems and reneged on its new obligations to roll out postal outlets to areas previously not served.
THE STELL ENBOSC H CONFERENC E RESOLUT IONS
17. The 2002 ANC Conference in Stellenbosch came against the backdrop of the sector that had been fundamentally changed since the advent of democracy but w hich displayed many of the inherent and imbedded features of the past. It is against this backdrop that an extensive resolution on the communications sector w as debated and adopted in the 2002 ANC National Conference in Stellenbosch.
18. The Stellenbosch Conference recognised the increasing role of innovation-led grow th in successful modern economies and the threat posed by inadequate investment in the drivers of innovation, in particular research and development, thereby risking the loss of key know ledge upon w hich our strategic industries are anchored.
19. It further identified the key role of the State in developing a national platform for research and development. The conference resolved that w e should:
• commit to a long-term research and development strategy, w hich w ill address the historical distortions in our human resources in science and technology;
• support innovation in the context of economic grow th and social development through appropriate incentives and encourage long ter m strategic research and development;
• align governance structures for state-ow ned institutions w ith a strong technology mandate w ith such an integrated strategy; and
• explores the prospect of s mall- scale digital manufacturing w hich can be easily accessed by small and medium sized enterprises.
• w e should ensure continuous development of policies that promote universal availability of and access to ICT's and ICT- based services, and to this end to establish an ICT policy forum of the ANC w ith a research and review mechanism;
• w e mus t urgently establish a media and communication forum w here cadres deployed in various sectors can interact and provide regular reports on transformation issues; • local government and ANC structures should actively promote and assist local
communities, especially in rural areas, to apply for community radio licenses and the establishment of community new spapers taking advantage of the opportunities offered through the Media Development and Diversity Agency;
• government should increase access of the Infor mation and Communication and Technology sector to previously disadvantaged communities and encourage coordination of ex isting ICT initiatives such as tele-centres, Multi-Purpose Community Centr es, as w ell as raise public aw areness on ICT and its impact on human development; and that
• government should promote diverse ow nership and control of the country's media in all its forms.
21. The Stellenbosch Conference even set benchmarks on the resolutions on communic ation. It said;
A.
Internal Comm unication Machinery22. Within 6 months all ANC offices at provincial and regional level should be fully equipped and netw orked w ith national office for better and improved communication.
23. All branches of the ANC should be online w ithin 5 years.
B. Training and Capacity Building
24. A mechanism for establishing a media institute must be in place w ithin 6 months and w ith regard to the ICT forum and the media and communication forum this should be convened w ithin the first 6 months of 2003.
D. Government
25. By 2014 all municipal areas must have community radio stations and publications. 26. By 2014, all local communities should have access to infor mation and communication
technology.
E. Broadcasting
27. Over the next tw o years a national youth radio station should be established.
28. A dedicated parliamentary radio and TV channels must be established w ithin the next tw o years
29. Within five years, the public broadcaster must ensure that its programming should be mainly local content and sensitive to gender culture and the w ell-being of children. 30. In the next budget, funds should be allocated to establish the regional TV stations of the
public broadcaster in line w ith the MTEF.
31. The 52nd Polokw ane Conference w hich took place in 2007 endorsed the resolutions of the Stellenbotch Conference and further expressed concern at the slow pace of implementation in other aspects.
32. The Polokw ane Conference added that; w ith regard to the ICT sector the Conference recognised the need to continuously strengthen the capacity of the independent communic ations regulatory body (ICASA) in light of the changing technological and market environments.
ASSESSM ENT OF IMPLEMENTATION CONFERENCE RESOLUTIONS
33. This section analyses the extent to w hich Stellenbosch and Polokw ane Resolutions w ere implemented, how far they relate to the previous conference.
On the resolution about developing a Research and Developm ent Strategy
34. A Research and Development strategy has been adopted by government. Its key focus is on impr oving the national system of innovation (NSI). This strategy also supports the increase in the allocation of funding for research and development beyond 1% of GDP. Strategies to deal w ith Intellectual Property Rights from innovations emanating from publicly funded research w ere also developed.
35. Research dr iven developmental focus that increases allocations to research and development, corrects distortions in Human Capital production, aligns state ow ned entities and establishes small enterprise digital production supported through incubation centres are part of the implementation of this strategy. How ever distortions in the Human Capital Development environment still continue especially on the production of black science professionals and technicians.
36. Most of our science professionals and technicians are aging and w hite. More needs to be done to improve this situation especially in funding research and promoting black scientists. The fundamental challenge remains the inability of the school system to produce enough science oriented students, the non availability of structured technical education system in the past, the exorbitant costs of university education, and the high drop out rates at university levels. Many interventions have been implemented in the education system to deal w ith these tw in challenges.
37. Resolution on Universal Access and Services
38. Great strides have been taken to implement this resolution including the development of specific policies, regulations and licence conditions for the telecommunications, broadcasting and postal sectors. All polic ies and statutes enshrine the right of all South Africans to universal service and access. Government has provided financial support to state ow ned entities as w ell as the community radio stations as a w ay of mitigating the financial burden imposed by the extension of the mandate.
Telec entres in the past 15 years. The service provisioning centres like the Multipurpose Centr es and the Telecentres continue in an uncoordinated manner and a significant number of them are not networked and connected to services.
40. Media diversity in ter ms of print has not moved an inch tow ards the diversity that the conference resolutions demanded. This is in contrast w ith significant strides in the establishment of community radio stations across the country.
41. The model to achieve Universal Service and Access has achieved mix ed results impacted upon by financial considerations and economic activity. Private operators do not have any incentives to target those they do not perceive as w orthw hile markets w hereas the public sector, also in the main using commercial revenues to extend services, does not have the necessary financial means to roll out these services. This leaves millions of South Africans w ithout any infrastructure and services.
42. The majority of these South Africans are in rural areas. The state should be mandated to come up w ith a Univ ersal Service and Access policy to address the ICT services backlog in our country. Policy should also take into consideration that the focus is no longer on basic services but access to infrastructure and services that make it possible to access government, community and private business.
On Training and Capacity Building in the ICT Skills,
43. The Institute for Satellite and Softw are Applications, the Electronic Media Institute of South Africa and the Meraka Institutes have been established targeting historically disadvantaged individuals in a targeted effort to boost the skills output in the ICT environment. Several private sector institutes have also been initiated in support of the goal of increasing technical skills in the country. Further more many private companies have opened their doors to thousands of interns as part of the effort of preparing them as practitioners in the ICT space.
44. It is further proposed that alignment in the production by universities including Univ ersities of Technologies, technical colleges (FET) to produce industry ready personnel must be accelerated.
45. Despite all the efforts South Africa is not producing enough engineers, technicians and practitioners in the ICT sector. It is conservatively estimated that 15000 trained and high level skills are required by the local industry over and above those absorbed in the sector.
46. The importance of the sector now and in the future w arrants a serious consideration of the need for the development of a multiyear, multifaceted Skills Dev elopment Plan to produce the required high level skills .
The resolution on Establishm ent of Media Communications and ICTs Forum s
47. The ANC has established the Communications and ICT Forum w hich met for the first time in June 2009 in Ess elen Park. Further more, these forums recommended certain policies for adoption by the ANC and therefore government in order to address the current challenges.
48. Over 127 Community Radio Stations have been licenced since 1994, over 100 of these are operating. About 90-110 municipalities are w ithout a community radio station. Biggest challenges facing the community sector are the lack of training to run the stations, the lack of advertising and commercial support, high transmission costs, programming that is not relevant to local communities and the lack of effective community ow nership and participations.
49. Few if any Munic ipalities have w orking relationships w ith community stations and few er still are supporting them. Very few community new spapers have been established. In fact, most of the existing community new spapers are ow ned by the big media groups such as Caxton and Naspers. The expansion of the ICT infrastructure to reach all municipalities w ill not be realised by 2014 unless a targeted campaign is initiated.
50. Community media offers a platfor m for community involvement in matters important to their communities. They also serve as an outlet for community feelings and view s. The movement must prioritis e community radio stations and use the space they offer to deepen its links w ith communities.
The Resolution on the establishm ent of a national youth radio service, dedicated TV and Radio parliam entary channels, predom inant local content and regional television channels.
51. These resolutions have not been implemented fully. In terms of telev is ion services, it is anticipated that the advent of digitization w ill enable the establishment of a fully fledged parliamentary channel as w ell as the provision of channels reflective of provinces and regions. This process w ill also take into account the advent of community television w hich w ill cater for local and district communities.
52. The fundamental challenge remains the funding structure of the public broadcasting services and the attendant inability of the SABC to fund these services. If these services are important policy must resolve the funding question paving the w ay fro the state to deliver in the near future.
53. On the resolution regarding the Sentech, the state has maintained Sentech as a national strategic asset and continues to be an important body that provides signal distribution broadcasters inc luding community radio in the country. Sentech is key in the roll-out of the digital signal. The State has funded Sentech over the past three (3) year in order to roll-out the digital signal before the 2015 international deadline.
On the SABC public funding of up to 60% of SABC needs.
broadcasting system from analogue to digital systems on top of the funding challenge of maintaining a relevant SABC.
56. There is an overriding need for a serious assessment of the role, mandate, structure, services and funding of the public broadcasting system in the digital age. As indicated the digital migration process provides an opportunity for the public broadcasting system to better deliver on the needs of the public but this could not be achieved utilizing methodologies and approaches of the analog environment. Serving the public better requires adequate funding in an environment w here the economy is grow ing at a constant pace and therefore precluding the emergence of new advertisers to sustain new channels.
57. On the resolution about, the public broadcaster local content programming, gender, culture and the well-being of children. The SABC continues to make great progress on these issues. Content for youth and children is broadcast on radio and television. The local content has reached over 55% of the total content of the public broadcaster. How ever gender programming has not been assessed and there is a need for the SABC and government to track and publish the nature and amount of programming devoted to w omen and gender issues.
ICT Sector Challenges and Recomm endations
58. In summary, the A NC ICT Communication Forum at its meetings in 2009 and 2010 characterized the ICT sector challenges as follow s:
59. That the sector lacks a coherent National ICT Policy that support the developmental path for the benefit of our people, especially the historically disadvantaged and those in the rural areas of our country. In addition, the ICT programmes currently pursued by different tiers of government are uncoordinated, do not w ork in tandem and at times have conflicting objectives.
60. This situation is also compounded by institutional misalignment, duplication of mandates of government departments, tiers of government, State Ow ned Enterpr ises and agencies. Ther efore the situation contributes to the failure to bridge the digital divide and the perpetuation of a situation in w hich significant numbers of people do not have access to government, government services and information communication technologies.
61. The lack of coherent interoperable netw orks and services at the various tiers of government, preventing the emergence of a single online w indow to access automated government services to citizens, is a symptom of problems of misalignment of priorities and misdirected state interventions at the various tiers of government.
63. Regulatory w eaknesses, inconsistency and policy misinterpretations, resulting in the decisions that favour the industry over national developmental goals, poor oversight, exorbitant and predatory prices w ere identified as characteristic of the country’s regulated sector. The relationship betw een the regulator and the sector is symptomatic of a situation described in other jurisdictions as regulatory capture, meaning that private interest as opposed to public needs and good are the outcomes of many of regulatory activities.
64. In this regard although many aspects of the developmental state like universal service and access have been proclaimed as the objectives of the statutes, these are far from being realised as the regulator turns a blind eye to the non compliance of the operators to their obligations. Lack of leadership, the dearth of skills and a lack of w ill to take on the industry in pursuit of public interest goals characterise many of the regulator’s activities.
65. Experience has show n that a w eak regulatory framew ork leads to anticompetitive behaviour that hits consumers hard in the pocket as operators collude, overcharge and engage in a host of anticompetitive behaviours. For the take up of ICT’s to progress fast, communic ations tariffs mus t come dow n and be affordable. A strong effective regulator is the key to ensuring market efficiency.
66. Lack of clear programme and path for implementation of developmental goals by the sector, w hilst communities face the endless challenges limiting access to communication platforms. In most rural areas communications infrastructure is still a luxury. In the face of unprecedented challenges in the education, health and social spheres, communic ations is ideally placed to bring needed interventions to those in remote areas. But none of the role players w ould be in a position to afford the roll out of such services to those that need them the most.
67. Government and the citizens cannot afford the service charges levied by the operators. The ANC has decided on its 5 key priorities. Yet there is as yet no blue print or coherent consideration as to how the ICT’s are to be used to fast track the achievement of these priorities. How can the information communications technologies improve educational and health delivery? How can the ICT’s create jobs? How can the ICT’s help in rural development? What is the role of the ICT’s in combating crime and corruption? ICT’s are enablers that must be integrated in all our national campaigns as they make w ork faster and easier to be accessed by all.
68. Policies pursued have not eradicated the problems inherited from our apartheid past. The ow nership patterns, the deploy ment of the infrastructure and the skills base are still echoing trends that defined the ICT sector prior to democratisation. Providing an opportunity to all South Africans on an equitable basis w ill require approaches that w ill fast track transformation in the sector, train new practitioners and provide a skills base that is reflective of the South African population. Important in this regard is the deployment of these technologies in the previously disadvantaged areas in schools, clinics, hospitals, government offices and service delivery points w hich to all practical purposes are not currently connected.
development of the sector tow ards recognizing the need to drive a people centred grow th. Evidenc ed by the failure to pass the BEE ICT Charter, the transformation of the sector for the benefit of the historically disadvantaged individuals has not achieved the goals of grow th and redistribution.
70. Casualisation of w orkers is rife in this sector, w ithout providing the bas ic benefits to the workers in this sector, e.g. call centre industry is w orking against the goal of creating sustainable and decent jobs as per the A NC manifesto. Yet with creative solutions, the ICT sector has a potential to employ high numbers of workers that it currently does.
71. The adoption and use of the ICTs in particular the internet and broadband services is slack leading to situation in which South Africa has lost its competitive positioning. Even thought South Africa lead the African continent in ter ms of telephony penetration in the 90s and internet uptakes South Africa is currently rated at number 12 in Africa.
72. We need to attend to the reasons for South Africa’s decline in international rankings and other indices measuring the adaptation and uptake, namely:
• There w ere 4.6m subscriptions to fixed telecommunications services meaning 10 out of 100 South Africans w ere subscribers. By the end of 2009 only, 4.4m w ere subscribers meaning that now only 9 out of every hundred w ere subscribers to fixed line services. • Overall estimates are that fixed line services have w itnessed a 54% reduction in call
volumes since 2005.
• Slight improvements have been registered in the business lines as w ell as prepaid services.
• There w ere 44m subscriptions in 2007 meaning that there w ere 92 subscriptions for every 100 South Africans. By the end of 2009 there w ere 49m subscriptions meaning that 98 out of every 100 South Africans w ere subscribers.
• 3 Netw ork has not been spectacular. 3G introduced in 2003/2004 financial year. By 2007 there w ere only 2m subscribers. There w ere 7 m subscribers by 2007. This means that only 14 out of every 100 South Africans are beneficiaries of this technology. If present trajectory is maintained there w ill be 39 subscribers for every 100 South Africans in 2015.
• There w ere only 4m dial-up internet users in South Africa in 2007. If the take up pattern continues only 10 out of 100 South Africans w ill be using the internet in 2015.
• Fast speed alw ays on internet take up is even slow er. There w ere only 500k users of fast speed internet in 2007. This means that only 1 South African out of 100 is a subscriber. Based on present patterns only 2m South Africans w ill be connected to broadband internet by the year 2015
• The digital migr ation is threatening to increase the numbers of those w ho cannot receive the service unless the state subsidizes them.
NEW POLICY REC OMMENDA TIONS STRAT EGIC FOCUS OF THE ICT SECTOR
73. The ANC should develop and adopt policies that take into account the strategic role of the ICTs in grow th development, economic investment, government adminis tration democratic governance and service delivery.
74. The ANC should pursue policies that promote digital inclusion and prioritise the inclusion of those w ho are outside the information communications technology loop. Such policies w ould require targeted interventions in the market to correct market failures for the benefit of the excluded, underserved and marginalised sections of the population.
75. The ANC should prioritise public sector interventions including state led interventions for the roll out of infrastructure and services in schools, libraries, health centres, public offices and community centres. Such programmes must be geared at meeting real peoples’ needs and provide relevance in terms of content and language.
76. Policy should prioritis e the establishment and empow erment of a new breed of SMMEs to take advantage of the evolutions in the ICT sector and digital economy.
77. To achieve the above the above goal the National backbone and infrastructure should be extended to reach every tow n, village and households in the medium to long term. The national backbone connecting all South Africans in a universal manner should of high speed and standard capable of delivering full spectrum of services.
78. As an outcome these universally available and accessible netw orks should facilitate the inclusion of all South Africans in the development of the digital economy. This entails all South Africans being able to access educational, health, financial, economical, and other developmental opportunities.
79. The ANC should prioritise formal and informal skills development to ensure effective utilis ation of ICT resources by all South Africans. The prioritisation of skills development coupled w ith the availability of services w ill drive the creation of the information society in South Africa. ICT education should form part of the curriculum in all schools and ABET centres.
INFRA STRUCT URE CONNEC TIVITY AND CONVERGENC E
80. All the above interventions should be consolidated into a single National Broadband Plan that outlines how the country w ill plan and deliver on all these priorities w ithin the next 15 years. The National Broadband Plan should emphasize Fast Speed Broadband Internet as the future pillar that w ill make it possible for the country to access a full spectrum of services ensuring 100% penetration of business and households.
single face to the citizens and interoperability w ithin the next 10 years.. Initially at least 3 service areas w ill be digitized and offered as services on line for each government department at local, provincial and national levels w ithin the first 3 years of the Broadband Plan. As it stands, government has in June 2010 approved a Broadband Policy w hich is taking the country forw ard on this matter.
82. The National Broadband Plan encompassing public participation should promote the sense of ow nership by all South Africans including the urban and rural poor. The Broadband Plan should emphasize the role of w omen, youth and people w ith disability. 83. Consistent w ith the intention to maximise the value and opportunities provided by ICTs ,
national policy should accelerate the implementation of convergence. ICASA should fast track the implementation of all existing regulations in terms of the Electronic Communications Act. The approach to convergence should promote the uptake of new technologies that facilitate convergence of telecommunications and broadcasting services such as Mobile TV and IPTV. National policy should also encourage the mar ket to mov e tow ards 4G to promote the quality of services
84. Notw ithstanding the commitment to facilitating convergence, broadcasting should not be compromised; hence anyone w ho intends to provide broadcasting services should first be licensed. Given the significance of broadcasting as a cultural industry, the ANC should retain the current 20 percent limitation on foreign ow nership in the broadcasting sector
85. Linked to the drive tow ards convergence, a comprehensive national spectrum policy is required. The national spectrum policy should include spectrum audit, licensing, co-ordination and pricing. This policy should look at asymmetr ical licensing framew ork w hich w ill allow for entities operating in rural areas to participate in the market.
86. Related to spectrum management, numbers as a scarce resource should be appropriately managed for the benefit of competition and consumers
Research and Development.
87. South Africa, like many emerging economies, strives to achieve global competitiveness by transfor ming itself into a know ledge-based economy. The potential for ICTs as both an industrial sector in its ow n right, as w ell as an enabler for enhancing the competitiveness of other economic sectors cannot be overemphasized. In the South African context, factors that impedes realisation of the full potential of ICTs for socio-economic grow th and development can be summarised as follow s:
88. Due to insufficient technological competencies and capabilities, South Africa continues to rely on imported ICT products and services. This has an adverse effect on the grow th of the economy as it w eighs negatively w ith regards to technology balance of payments (i.e. w e are importing mor e than w e are exporting, affecting our foreign reserves w ith negative results on the economy). It is impor tant to note that government is the biggest spender in ICT in South Africa.
mechanisms do not promote expansion and development of new ICT products and services.
90. Lack of robust, w ell coordinated institutional arrangements have led to South Africa losing some of its novel, w orld-class technology innovations. Examples include Mark Shuttlew orth’s innovative internet security solution w hich w as sold to American Company, the co-developer and ow ner of PayPal Online payment solution is a South African w ho now lives abroad, to mention just tw o examples.
91. The w orld’s advanced economies achieved w hat they have today because they had in place systems and polic ies that ensured that ICT R&D and innovation in particular, and science and technology in general, is adequately nurtured and supported. The competitiveness of these economies can directly be linked to their investments in S&T and ICT. Besides USA, Japan, UK and most EU countries, countries that w ere economic ally comparable to - if not w orse than - South Africa not so many decades ago, have progressed exponentially because at some stage, they took purposeful and deliberate decis ions to invest heavily on S&T and advanced ICT human capital development, infrastructure and appropriate policies and institutional mechanis ms. 92. Examples of such countries include Sw eden, Finland, South Korea, China, India and
Ireland. Other countries w ho are follow ing suit and are rapidly developing their ICT R&D and innovation capacity are Malaysia, Brazil, Chile, etc.
93. Against the backdrop of the National Research and Development Strategy (NRDS), the ICT R&D and innovation strategy w as developed to address the above issues. It seeks to create an enabling environment in South Africa for ICT- based R&D and innovation to flourish. It seeks to achieve a marked increase in advanced human resource development in ICT R&D and innovation, to promote w orld class research and build robust innovations chains that w ill result in creation of new high-tech ICT small enterprises and ensure enhanced competitiveness of other priority economic sectors such as manufacturing, agriculture, mining and tourism.
94. It identifies specific ICT technology and application domains that are pertinent to addressing socio-economic imperatives of the country and thus ensuring impr ovement of quality of life and creation of w ealth. These are w ide ranging ICT fields addressing areas of market neglect and digital divide such ICT in education (e-Education), ICT in Health (e-Health), e-Government, ICTs for Inclusion (addressing people leaving w ith disabilities and the aged) and Human Language Technologies (addressing the language and cultural diversity in SA, as w ell as illiter acy). The technology domains w hich seek to enable creation of new and high-tech industries include information security, softw are engineer ing and development (including Open Source Softw are), high performance computing, geospatial technologies and mobile, w ireless and satellite (space) technologies.
96. The policy should therefore ensure that R&D and innovation is fully supported including in ICTs . The underlying critical success factors to achieve these ideals are marked increase in ICT R&D and innovation investment to support existing research programmes – and enable creation of new ones - and their grow th to critical mass levels through appropriate funding for R&D in higher education institutions, science councils and research institutions; building of research infrastructure; and attraction of foreign direct investment through various incentive schemes that w ill see large multinational ICT conglomerates setting up research and innovation facilities in South Africa (not just sales offices).
97. This should be coupled w ith development of effective and efficient institutional arrangements that ensure proper coordination and integration into government policies and programmes . Cooperation betw een and among government departments and agencies is particularly critical for the successful implementation of the ICT R&D and innovation.
BROA DCASTING MATTERS
98. The most pressing issue remains the migration of broadcasting services from analog to digital in an environment in w hich all South Africans should still receive broadcasting services on an equitable basis. There is a need to review the role of the public broadcasting system in order to deter mine a mandate of the public broadcaster that takes into consideration conditions under digital broadcasting that are fundamentally different to analog broadcasting in terms of the nature and extent of competition. With regard to broadcasting, national policy should prioritise the accelerated implementation of digital broadcasting migration plan taking into account the follow ing:
• Univ ersal access to quality broadcasting services including children, w omen, regional, youth services and programming for people w ith disability, including mobile TV services
• Quality broadcasting services that offer services in all the official languages of the republic
• Competition in both the free to air and subscription markets • Community and regional television
• The digital dividend be allocated appropriately to benefit community, public and commercial services and other electronic communication services
• Digitisation and convergence takes into account the role of broadcasting as cultural industry
• Public broadcasting should take advantage of digitisation to meet the diverse needs of South Africans including w omen, youth and children programming
POSTAL SERVICES
99. The South Africa Post Office has 2500 post office outlets throughout the country. Postal sector remains a vital component of the communications infrastructure environment. For this reason, the sector should continue to expand its infrastructure into marginalised areas in the country.
100. This task is further motivated by the current role of the Post Office as a delivery platform for many government services, including acting as a pension payout outlet. In light of this role, the Pos t office should be capacitated to w ork w ith local government to enhance the delivery of services to communities. More specifically, the Post office should assist w ith revenue collections in local communities across the country.
On Ow nership and control
101. Acknow ledging the slow pace of transformation in this sector including ow nership of companies by black people, this sector has not adopted a common empow ernment charter that sets out targets and timeframes for achieving them. The ANC can mandate the State to adopt a policy that promotes transformation of the ICT sector as an economic sector in South Africa, prioritizing the ow nership of businesses by particular black people in line w ith the black economic empow erment policy.
102. The investment by foreigners w hich takes over local businesses requires further policy discussions. The case in point is the sale of the Vodacom shareholding to the Vodafone w hich caused confusion as to w hich policies to prioritise betw een expanding and retaining local ow nership as opposed to attracting foreign investment in the sector. In this regard, the A NC must guide the country through a w ell though policy position that balances the tw o.
INSTIT UTIONAL COORDINAT ION ISSUES
103. Regar ding institutional issues, and taking into account the decisions of the previous national conferences, the ANC should attend to the follow ing issues:
104. ICA SA, as the regulator, should be adequately capacitated to deal w ith challenges in the fast changing technological and market environment. National policy should explore the possibility of funding the regulator through license fees w ithout compromising the accountability of ICA SA to Par liament. An additional levy could be imposed on the operators to finance ICASA for this purpose in addition to the levy they pay for the use of the spectrum and licence fees.
105. To effectively enforce compliance, the Complaints and Compliance Committee (CCC) should be transformed into the ICT sector tribunal, in the same mould as the Competition Tribunal, to effectively enforce compliance w ith the law and regulations. STATE OWNED ENT ERPRISES
106. The state should integrate all its investments in the ICT sector to improve the delivery of services:
determine their effectiveness and relevance w ith an aim to ensure alignment and leadership, including institutions such as MDDA, Films and Public ation Board, SITA and USAASA.
108. ICT Training institutions should be amalgamated into a single training institute to ensure skills ready training and production through an effective funding investment to gain value for money , targeting the Institute of Satellite Applications (ISSA), the Meraka e-Skills Institute and the NEMISA.
109. The governance of State ow ned entities in the ICT sector should be streamlined and consolidated under a single authority to ensure coherent implementation of national policy and effective coordination and oversight by relevant political office bearer.
110. In pursuit of the integration of state investment in the sector, the state holds multiple interests in various State Ow ned Enterprises including Broadband Infraco, Sentech, SABC, SITA etc.
Coordination at different tiers and levels of governm ent
111. The existence of different policy and plans for the deployment of the ICTs at national, provincial and municipal level w ill prevent the emergence of a single unified netw ork and service that gives citizens access to government. Such duplication w ill also entail considerable costs to the tax payer.
112. It is of vital importance that national policy should facilitate the coordination of the various tiers of government in their approach to the development and deployment of e government.
